


Me, Myself and Lena Luthor

by Black_Tea_and_Bones



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Brilliantly confused Lena Luthor, F/F, Friendship, Humour, Oblivious Kara Danvers, Quite possibly the silliest love triangle ever, Sort Of, Supernatural Elements, minus the daxamites, season two, stolen identities, you'll see - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-10
Updated: 2019-04-14
Packaged: 2019-05-20 09:24:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14891960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Black_Tea_and_Bones/pseuds/Black_Tea_and_Bones
Summary: While saving the day, Kara gets hit by a new Alien weapon that leaves her (literally) in two places at once.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Here we go again! :D
> 
> This fic is loosely inspired by an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, only much gayer and hopefully a lot more fun!
> 
> Its set in mid/late Season two, with 100% fewer Daxamites.

It was a pajamas and pizza kind of night.

Kara dug through her closet for her oldest and comfiest sweater (the cream cable-knit long since stretched out of shape,) pulling it on over her favorite cupcake pajamas before answering the door.

The delivery boy paused with his hand upraised to knock.

“Oh, uhh.... pizza?” he offered, looking confused.

Right. Wait for the knock first, _then_ open the door. Don't scare the people who bring you pizza, Kara.

“I have really good hearing,” she offered with a smile that was probably about three degrees of overcompensating before shoving a handful of bills at him.

He jammed the money into his pocket and surrendered the food with a shrug.“ Sure. Have a good night or whatever.”

“You too!” Kara called after him, barely resisting the urge to hug the pizza boxes to her chest like a child, breathing in the familiar and soothing aroma of pepperoni, bacon, ham and three kinds of cheese.

Look, she needed this tonight, okay?

The Pizza joined an already impressive pile of snacks on the coffee table. Kara dropped down on the couch, tugging the blanket up over her feet and reaching for the remote. She was perfectly snuggly, she had good food, about seven different shows to catch up on and for once National City was quiet.

So what if Lena was busy, Winn and James were out testing some new piece of guardian gear and Alex had bailed on sister night to go out with Maggie again?

So what if Snapper had rejected her last three stories and yelled at her twice today?

Kara was _fine!_

Her phone rang and Kara scrambled for it under the layers of her blanket and sweater cocoon with a haste that belied all of her self-affirming protests of fine-ness.

“Hello?”

“Kara!” Lena sounded relieved to have reached her. “Tell me again why I'm doing this? Because I'm about one condescending, if not outright misogynistic, remark away from turning this ship around and taking you up on that offer of a quiet evening in.”

“You're changing the face of green energy,” Kara reminded her, ignoring her first impulse to encourage Lena to do exactly that.

“It's a Yacht.”

“It's a _Hybrid_ yacht.”

“It's still a completely ridiculous use of money and resources.”

“You built it.”

“I know.” Lena sniffed. “That's how I know it was ridiculous.”

“Come on,” Kara said, leaning back against the arm of the couch and tossing the remote back onto the table. “Remember your slogan, _Luxury without Liability,”_ she quoted. “Your yacht uses less fuel, and more recycled materials than anything else on the market. Plus, catering to rich guilt will let you keep working in fuel economics.”

“Fine, throw my own arguments back at me. Some friend _you_ are.”

Kara rolled her eyes. “Go, schmooze, shake hands, eat some of that amazing dinner I helped you plan and save the world already.”

“I think that's more your friend Supergirl's job than mine, but I'll do my best.”

“Supergirl's got nothing on you,” Kara told her seriously, ignoring the familiar twinge of conscience at the mention of her secret identity. “But if anyone gets out of line, I'll ask her to come and throw them overboard, fair enough?”

Lena laughed. “I just might take you up on that. Are _you_ having a nice evening to yourself at least?”

Kara looked around at her empty apartment and sighed. “Oh you know me; I've got pizza, ice cream and Season four of Brooklyn 99, I'm all set.”

“Kara...” Lena was using her concerned voice, but she sounded distracted too, and Kara could hear other people in the background. “Look, I have to get back to this party, but can I come over after? There's something I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Sure,” Kara said, curiosity piqued. “Do you-”

The voices in the background got louder, then they were shouting and a sharp crackling _bang_ cut Kara off mid-sentence.

“Lena!?” Kara was on her feet in less than a second, poised to fly.

“I'm fine...” Lena assured her immediately. “But there's something going on at the front of the boat...”

“Lena, stay where you are,” Kara pleaded, already reaching for her cape. “I'll be- I'll send help right away, just don't move.”

Predictably. Lena ignored her. “I think it's an alien... it's hovering over the water, and it's holding some kind of glowing red staff. That must be what it used to shoot the boat. If I can just-”

Her phone cut out with another wave of static-like crackling, and Kara blurred through the rest of her change and shot out the window towards the harbour, calling the attack in on her communicator. J'onn promised to send back up, but Kara barely heard him over the thumping of her own heart.

 _Please_ let Lena be okay...

The harbour was already responding to the attack. Lena's yacht was visible from shore, and the alien weapon had created a red glow around the ship, with flickers of darker red arcing through the air like lightning. Emergency boats were on their way out, and anxious crowds waited on the docks. Sirens were blaring, but Kara heard a few hopeful cheers as she flew past.

She wished she shared their confidence right now.

Her first instinct was to find Lena, but there was the small matter of an alien shooting electric red fireballs to deal with first. She reached the aura of red light around the ship and faltered, gasping as a searing current ran through her, locking her muscles and making her fight to stay in the air. The people on the boat weren't faring any better. Most of them had collapsed, some of them had fainted, but Kara could hear dozens of rapid heartbeats, so it wasn't fatal. Not yet.

She didn't see Lena.

Forcing herself to push through the red field, Kara rounded the ship and found the alien on the deck on the other side, with Lena unconscious at his feet. He looked up, eyes glowing under a black hood, raised his staff, and everything turned upside down.

The water was cold.

That was her first thought when the flash of light knocked her out of the darkening sky and the ocean rushed up to meet her; cold and hard. The shock of it stole the breath from her lungs and the strength from her limbs. She floundered as the black waves rolled over her, dragging her deeper.

Alex had taught her to swim when they were kids; painstaking and patiently showing her how to move through the water until she was no longer an embarrassment, but this wasn’t their small, sunny beach, and her powers seemed to have deserted her. Kicking wildly, she breached the surface long enough to take a gasp of air before the ocean rose up and smacked her back down to tumble helplessly in its wake.

Had there been _kryptonite_ in that weapon? No. She knew what kryptonite felt like, and this wasn’t it. This was more like a solar flare. She felt halved, hollowed out or sundered apart. Her powers weren’t being blocked, they were just... _gone?_

She wasn't even sure how far she was from the yacht, or which direction the blast had thrown her in. She couldn't see over the waves, or hear through the ringing in her ears. She frantically tried to summon up angles, trajectories and velocities, anything to give her a point of reference, but it was all a jumble. If she could just figure out which direction to swim...

She should _know_ this. Being Supergirl might look like it took more brawn than brain, but did anyone ever stop to consider how many calculations were involved in catching a fragile human in arms of steel when you were flying at the speed of sound?

Trusting her gut, she picked a direction and kicked out, fighting the tide and the undertow that tried to pull her down. She was gagging on sea water, and her arms and legs felt like lead when one last wave slammed her face-first into something solid, opening a gash across her forehead and almost knocking her out. She gasped and coughed, scrabbling at a slimy wooden post with hands that didn't want to grip.

Not the yacht... but it was better than nothing.

She clung there somehow, exhausted; ears ringing, head spinning, and lungs aching with every ragged breath. Okay. Now, where was she? Blinking stinging sea water out of her eyes, she squinted around the piling into the darkness where other long, black shapes stretched up over her head.

It was a dock!

Thank _Rao..._

Praying for a gentle slope and the strength to reach it, Kara took a last shuddering breath and pushed off the post towards what she hoped was the shore. Her wet clothes weighed her down, but she was nothing if not stubborn and she kept her head above water until there was something shifting but solid under her feet,. She made a final lunge, her fingers sinking into a disgusting (but blessedly welcome) mix of algea and wet sand. Shaking, she crawled up the bank on her hands and knees, coughing up what felt like an entire ocean and collapsing with her feet still in the water.

She needed to get up. There was a rogue alien out there threatening her city. Threatening _Lena!_ But she couldn't move. Could barely breathe, or even feel the coarse sand under her cheek. She was floating, all the pain washing away and the world around her going dark as consciousness slipped through her fingers.

*****

Kara woke up to the first glittering of dawn through salt-encrusted eyelashes, and someone poking her in the ribs with a stick.

“Is she dead?”

“Nah, you can see her breathing. She's probably just drunk.”

“Or high.”

“Stop that...” Kara rasped, weakly batting the tip of the stick away from her side. “I'm not drunk,” she added, pushing herself up onto her hands and knees. “I'm Supergirl.”

The kids snorted with laughter.

“You win,” the second one said. “She's definitely high on _something.”_

“Or crazy,” the first one added, just to be contrary.

Kara bit back an argument, sitting up and pushing heavy, wet hair out of her face. She faltered at the sight of her own arm in the grey dawn-light. Instead of the shiny blue of her suit, she saw the dirty, salt-stained sleeve of her cupcake pyjamas.

What the heck?

Had she been in such a rush to save Lena that she'd forgotten to change?

No.

She remembered putting on her suit, and the snap of her cape in the wind on the flight to the docks.

“Hey,” she said, catching the attention of the two boys again. “What happened last night, to that ship that got attacked?”

They glanced at each other as if gauging the risk of getting into a conversation with a random woman washed up on the beach. They were more teenagers than boys really, though from the stick-poking she suspected they had the shared maturity of a five year old, even with their fancy hair and expensive looking board-shorts. “The fancy Luthor Yacht?” The blond one asked, she thought he might have been the one who thought she was crazy, turning back and shifting his grip on his surfboard.

She nodded.

“Supergirl saved it,” he said slowly , as if explaining something to a small child (or a crazy person.) “The _real_ Supergirl.”

“Chased that other alien right off,” the other one added, flipping long brown bangs out of his eyes and tucking his own surfboard under his arm. “It was an _epic_ fight _!”_

“Oh...” Kara tried to process this. “And the passengers? Lena Luthor, she's all right?”

He scoffed. “Yeah, she was fine. Billionaires get the star treatment, even from Superheroes. No one else got a personal lift back to shore.”

“Wait...” Kara frowned. “You're telling me _Supergirl_ carried Lena to safety?”

“What? You don't remember?” Floppy-hair snickered.

Okay... this was... weird, but Lena was okay and the city was safe, so that was two worries taken care of.

Maybe J'onn had taken her place as Supergirl when she fell? But then why hadn't they looked for her? If Alex knew she was missing, she wouldn't have stopped searching until she'd found her, and she hadn't been carried _that_ far down the coast.

No.

Something else was going on, and if it had something to do with Lena...

“You okay?” The blonde one asked, something like actual concern in his eyes. “There's a shelter a few blocks down. “We could take you.”

“Aw, Scotty come on! We'll miss the waves!”

Scotty punched the other boy in the arm, eliciting a yelp and a glare. “Don't be such an asshole, Ryan. We can't just walk away if she actually needs help!”

“No,” Kara said, getting shakily to her feet. “Thank you, but I'll be okay, just... where exactly am I?”

Scotty sighed. “Look, lady... You can't go walking around like that. Wait here. We'll get you some things.” he shoved the grumbling Ryan down the beach and out of sight.

Kara took one wobbly step after them and sank back to the sand, reluctantly accepting that this Scotty had a point. She could barely walk, and she probably looked like some kind of sea monster in filthy pink pyjamas. Her powers and her communicator were gone, no one else seemed to realize she was missing and right now she had no way to do anything about any of it. Even if she could find a phone, what would she say? Would they believe her? How good was this imposter? _Was_ it an imposter? Or a really good illusion? What if it had told them _she_ was the fake?

Ugh! This was the _worst!_

She really wished she'd gotten a chance to eat that pizza now. On top of everything else she was getting really hungry.

Luckily, she didn't have to wait very long. The boys came back with an assortment of clothes from the lost and found at the nearby lifeguards tower. Kara wrinkled her nose but she picked out a pair of khaki shorts that looked like they'd fit and an oversized T-shirt with a puppy on it that smelled clean enough. The boys turned their backs while she changed and tied her hair up in a knot. There was a pair of only slightly too big flip flops to complete the outfit. When she was finished, Ryan held out a first aid kit.

“For the cut on your head,” he muttered, helping her clean it out (those antiseptic wipes _stung_ without powers _!)_ and stick on a couple of band-aids.

“Well?” She asked. “Am I presentable?”

Scotty shrugged. “You'll do. Now do you have somewhere to go?”

Kara nodded. She had her bearings now. Winn's apartment was the closest, and he would probably be the easiest one to convince. Definitely the one least likely to get violent if he didn't believe her. “Thank you both!” She said, impulsively hugging each of them in turn, a gesture which they endured stoically before running off to get back to their delayed surfing, Ryan pausing to offer a sheepish wave.

Kara waved back and started the long climb up the beach to the road. Now... all she had to was find Winn, convince him she was the real Kara, get him to help her convince everyone else, figure out who or what had tried to take her identity and what they wanted with Lena, then get everything back before anyone else got hurt.

Without her powers.

Easy.

Right?

 

 

 

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara has a terrible, no good, very bad day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally got this done! 
> 
> Thanks go out to Flavoured_Broadcast for listening to me whine and helping me figure out a few plot points. :)

The walk to Winn's was... Kara wanted to say challenging or enlightening, even educational, but mostly it was just awful. Walking that far without her powers was _exhausting,_ and the rising sun, far from being its usual energizing self, was just plain hot. Within an hour she was sweaty, thirsty, hungrier than ever and her borrowed shoes were slowly introducing her to the exciting new world of blisters.

Winn answered the door mid-yawn, still in his Superman Pyjammas, hair pressed flat on one side and sticking straight up on the other. “Kara? What are you doing here at...” he patted at his hips, looking for a phone in pockets he didn't have. “... early,” he finished, giving up and stepping back to let her in, closing the door behind her, “and what are you wearing? Wait...is that a _cut_ on your head? Did you have a-” he lowered his voice to a whisper, “ _solar flare?”_

“It's a long story,” Kara said, breathing a sigh of relief as she kicked off the sadistic flip flops, “but first, do you have anything to eat?”

Winn rummaged around in the fridge while Kara perched on the edge of the counter and downed three glasses of water in quick succession.

“Here,” he said, handing her a paper plate with a slice of cold pizza, three chicken wings and a sad pile of mushroom-fried rice with a plastic fork. “I'm pretty sure none of this has expired yet.”

Kara inhaled it, nearly choking when inhuman eating habits met an all-too-human respiratory system.

“Easy,” Winn pounded her on the back. “I don't want to have to tell Alex I killed her sister with left-over take-out. Chew, swallow, and then you can tell me what the heck is going on.” He took the plate when she was finished and dumped it in the garbage. “Now come on and spill,” he said, leading the way to the living room.

Kara refilled her glass once more before following. “Okay, what do you remember about last night?”

“Uhh... last night James and I were on a stakeout, total waste of time by the way. Y _ou_ saved Lena's yacht from that seriously angry red alien. We all met up DEO, went over some Fort Rozz mug shots, no luck there obviously, aaand...made a plan to track him down if he shows up again. Then we all went home, why?”

“Because that wasn't me...” Kara flopped down on the couch, ignoring Winn's wince at the cloud of sand that swirled up around her.

“Are we talking the literal or the metaphorical you here, because I'll admit you seemed a little off, but I figured it was just your usual post-Lena-saving high.

“My what?” Kara shook her head. “You know what, nevermind, we'll come back to that later. The _literal_ me was shot out of the sky in the first five minutes of that fight. Whatever he hit me with, it zapped my powers and I nearly drowned! While you were all making plans, I was lying unconscious on the beach, and then I had to _walk_ here after being rescued by a couple of teen-aged surfers because I had no phone, or money-”

“Okay, okay...” Winn cut her off, scrubbing a hand over his face. “You're telling me there's another Supergirl out there? How? _Why?_ Wait-” He took a step back, gulping. “If there's two of you, how do I know you're the real one?”

“You've _got_ to be kidding me, Winn...”

“It's a valid question!”

“I'm _me_ , okay?”

“Prove it.”

“How?”

“Um...oh! I've actually thought about this! So, remember when that white martian had us trapped in the DEO and he was like, shifting into all of us? Of course you do, or... maybe you don't if you're not the real Kara, but anyway, I made a list of questions for everyone, which wouldn't actually work for Martians, because they can read our thoughts right? _Except_ , I have a neuro-inhibitor around here somewhere that I 'borrowed,'” he stressed the word, “for super important reasons that we wont go into right now. I just have to find it...”

Kara sighed and leaned back into the couch with her arms crossed while Winn sorted through the pile of half-finished experiments on his work table. She didn't bother to point out that if she really was the impostor, she'd hardly wait here patiently while he put together the means to expose her.

“Got it!” Winn held the delicate little headset up triumphantly. “Now just hold still...” he fitted it over her head and switched it on. “Okay...” he stepped back. “What's Superman's real name?”

“Kal El.”

“I was going for Clark Kent, but that'll do. Who is Guardian?”

Twenty-seven questions later, Kara was hungry all over again and the slowly drying sand in her hair was making her scalp itch like crazy! “Look,” she said finally. “I know you're trying to be thorough, but can we wrap this up or take five maybe? I _really_ need a shower, and I should probably show up for work at some point.”

“Last one,” Winn promised. “Why come to me? Why not Alex?”

“I-” Kara hesitated, toying with the hem of the over-sized puppy t-shirt. It was worn and frayed but soft to the touch. It had probably been somebody's favourite once, before being left behind and forgotten on the beach.“I thought she might be with Maggie.”

Winn frowned. “I thought Maggie knew about...” he gestured vaguely to all of her.

“She does, it's just... Alex shouldn't have to drop everything and come to my rescue every time I'm in trouble. _And,”_ she stressed, throwing a handful of sand at him so that he would stop making that sad, sympathetic Winn-face at her. “I thought _you_ of all people would believe me without an interrogation!”

“bleh!” Winn recoiled, coughing and wiping sand off his face. “Fine, fine! I believe you! So... another Supergirl...” he started pacing. “We could be looking at a shapeshifter, some kind of perception filter, maybe another Bizarro? Whoever it is, they're probably working with our glowy red friend from the yacht. One to take you out, and the other to take your place, but why? What's the end game?”

“Winn?”

'Yeah?”

“Shower?”

“Oh, right. You shower, I'll make coffee and after that we'll figure this whole... _thing_ , out.”

*****

Kara wanted to stay in Winn's shower forever. The hot water felt like a blessing, sluicing away sand, sweat and salt, and leaving her feeling much more like herself. Until she stepped out and stubbed her toe on the corner of the vanity that is. Her yelp and the crash as she fell, knocking shampoo bottles flying, brought Winn at a run. He barged through the door, covering his eyes with one hand and brandishing a spatula with the other.

“Kara?! Are you okay?”

Kara scrambled for the towel on the rack, yanking it down and covering herself as best she could, blinking back tears. “Winn! What are you doing?”

“Uh... saving you?”

“I'm fine.” She sniffed, examining her poor abused toe. It was already bruising, and she'd banged her elbow on the side of the tub too. How did people walk around being this _fragile_ all the time?

“You don't sound fine. Can I uh... is it safe to open my eyes?”

Kara tucked the towel more securely around herself. “I'm decent.”

“Hey, don't cry...” He looked stricken, setting the spatula down on the counter and tugging uselessly on his hair while trying to look anywhere but at the still significant amount of exposed skin in front of him. “Are you hurt? Should I call Alex? I'm going to call Alex...”

“No.” Kara caught his pant-leg before he could leave. “We can't call Alex. _She_ could have gotten to her by now, and I don't have my powers. We have to sneaky about this.”

“Sneaky?” Winn was nice enough not to mention her previous failures in that arena. “How?”

Kara wiped her eyes on a corner of the towel and swallowed back further tears. “I have a plan.”

*****

They called James. Or rather, Winn called James and Kara attacked the stack of pancakes Winn had been making for her while she was in the shower. He'd loaned her a pair of sweatpants that were two inches too short, a t-shirt with some kind of binary pun on it, and a hoodie. Kara had nearly cried again when she realized she didn't have her glasses, not sure if they had been left behind in her apartment or lost in the ocean. They weren't just a disguise, they were the last tangible connection she had with Jeremiah, but Winn had been scarred enough already, so she added a ridiculous amount of syrup to her pancakes and focused on stuffing as much sugar into her face as possible instead.

James was baffled, but helpful. Without telling him any more than that it was DEO business, they learned that Kara 2.0 had shown up for work as normal, and as far as he knew she should be there all day rewriting her latest piece for Snapper.

“Thanks buddy,” Winn flipped Kara the last pancake and gave her a thumbs-up, phone pinned between his chin and his shoulder. “Call me if she leaves okay? Or if you notice anything weird... no, there's nothing to worry about, just maybe... don't talk to her unless you have to? Okay, cool. See you later, man.”

“I still think this is a terrible idea,” he said to Kara after he hung up. “What if we get caught?”

“We won't get caught,” Kara mumbled through a mouthful of pancake, swallowed and added, “You have a key right?”

“Yeah, but what if we don't find anything?”

“We'll find something.”

*****

Kara was regretting her overconfidence an hour later when their careful search of her apartment hadn't turned up anything they could use as proof that her life had been stolen by an evil alien. Everything looked... normal. Her second favourite pajamas were lying in a heap on the bathroom floor, there were breakfast dishes piled in the sink and the shopping list she left tacked up on the fridge had a few new additions in her own familiar loopy handwriting.

“She's good,” Winn said, pulling fingerprints off the half-full glass of juice that had been left on the table and putting them through a portable scanner. “These are a perfect match.”

“White Martian?” Kara suggested, shining a flashlight under the couch.

“Nah.” Winn put the scanner away. “Whatever she is is, she not only has your body, she has your memories and habits too... that means we're looking at some kind of psychic component, and Martians can't read Kryptonian minds.”

“Right.” Kara sat up with a sigh. “There's nothing here, and you should probably check in at the DEO before anyone misses you. There might be something in the Alien Database that could help us.”

“Maybe...” Winn trailed off, eyeing her suspiciously. “What are you going to be doing?”

“Nothing,” Kara promised. More or less truthfully. “I'll meet you back at your place tonight.”

Winn didn't look convinced. “I don't know,” he said. “I'm not sure I like the idea of leaving you alone right now. You're not exactly yourself.”

Kara drew herself up as best she could in pants that barely reached her ankles; hands on her hips and jaw squared. “I'm more than just my powers, Winn!”

“That's not what I-” He shook his head. “Nevermind, just be careful, okay?”

*****

Kara hadn't _exactly_ lied. Spying on Lcorp wasn't really _doing_ anything. She just wanted to make sure Lena was okay, and if her double happened to show up too... well, Kara only wanted to get a first hand look. She wasn't going to confront her. Not unless Lena was in danger of course. Winn had given her a burner phone she could use in case of emergency, but she was hoping she wouldn't need it.

With her hood up, and a pair of borrowed sunglasses over her eyes, Kara watched the front doors of Lena's building from a bench outside the bus shelter across the street. She was actually pretty proud of herself. This was some high level sneak-

“Kara?”

Or not... “Lena, hi!” Caught, she had no choice except to go with it, scrambling to her feet and pushing back her hood but remembering to leave the sunglasses in place at the last minute.

“Are you all right?” Lena asked, giving Kara a doubtful once-over, green eyes lingering on the band-aids taped across her forehead. “Did something happen?”

“Oh, um,” Kara hedged, tugging on her shapeless hoodie and wishing rather desperately that she had J'onn's ability to literally sink into the ground. “... I'm undercover?”

“Undercover?”

“I'm uh... writing a story on the um...” she looked around for inspiration. “National City Transit system!”

“Oh?” Lena's brows drew together in confusion. “Isn't that a little outside your usual coverage?”

“Right, well, there have been um... complaints, about buses being off schedule,” Kara said, warming to the lie now, “and I'm pretty much Snapper's least favourite person right now, so he sent me to check it out.”

Lena's expression cleared. “Well, don't let me interrupt you,” she said as the bus pulled up. “Though I have to say,” she added, pushing back the sleeve of her sheer blouse to check a watch that was probably worth more than the bus in question, “this one seems to be right on time.”

“Oh,” Kara said weakly. “I guess I'll just wait for the next one then...”

“Nonsense,” Lena squinted up at the sun. “You can't stay out here dressed like that in this heat. I just stepped out for a breath of fresh air and I'm already melting. You can see this bus stop just fine from my office. Come up and have a cold drink.”

“I can't really...” too late, Lena was already walking away, beckoning over her shoulder, and all Kara could do was follow. They got a few strange looks in the lobby, but Lena ignored them, leading Kara into the elevator.

“I was hoping to see you today anyway,” she said, pressing the button for her floor. “Our conversation was cut rather short last night.”

Last night already seemed like an eon ago. “I'm sorry I didn't call back after, I-”

Lena waved her off, stepping out of the elevator and breezing past Jess's desk. “Don't worry about it. Supergirl told me you'd sent her. She promised to let you know I was all right, and I got your flowers this morning.”

“My flowers?” Kara whispered, trailing after her. Sure enough, there was a giant bouquet of Gerber Daisies on Lena's desk. Kara snagged the card while Lena poured them each a glass of water.

_Thinking of you ~ Kara_

Impersonal, but sweet. She put it back before Lena turned around, unsure whether to be grateful to her double for maintaining her relationship with Lena, or suspicious of her motives. Either way, she  needed to get out of here in case the other Kara arrived and made things even more confusing. “Thank you,” she said, accepting the glass of water. “But I really can't stay...”

“Are you sure?” Lena's tone was light, but there was something vulnerable in the tilt of her mouth. “I was just about to get lunch. I'm sure Jess won't mind ordering for two...”

Kara's stomach rumbled before she could open her mouth to say no. Maybe she could stay for a quick lunch? How often did she show up unannounced at Lcorp anyway? There was nothing to worry about. Fake Supergirl wouldn't just-

The rush of air from the balcony gave Kara a moment's warning, but it wasn't nearly enough time to escape.

“Supergirl,” Lena stepped forward with a smile. “You'll never guess who I just found out on the street.”

The superhero landed just inside the doors, her answering grin fading when she looked past Lena to Kara, eyes widening in shock and recognition.

Lena had already turned back to Kara. “Now you _have_ to stay for lunch,” she said. “Both of you. I've been waiting forever to get my two closest friends in National City in a room together. Honestly, you'd think-” She faltered, glancing between them. “What's wrong?”

Supergirl got her face under control first. Giving Kara a look that said _not here!_ clearer than any words before she smoothed out her expression. “Nothing, I was surprised, that's all. I wanted to check on you after last night, I didn't realize you'd have company. Weren't you busy today, Kara?”

Kara swallowed back a warning, trying to think through the frantic banging of her heart. Every instinct she had was screaming at her to grab Lena and run, but there was no way they could run fast enough or far enough and as much as she didn't trust this interloper, everything the other Kara had done so far seemed to indicate she needed to maintain the identity she'd stolen. Which meant that so long as Lena believed that really _was_ Supergirl, she was safe.

And so long as Kara played along, Supergirl couldn't touch her.

“I was,” she said with only the slightest tremour, edging just a little closer to Lena. Logic or no logic, she wasn't taking any chances, “but Lena wouldn't take no for an answer.”

Lena beamed at both of them. “Well, what kind of Luthor would I be if I did?”

They both managed weak smiles in return, and apparently that was enough for Lena.

“Ms. Luthor?” Jess poked her head into the office. “I'm sorry but we have a problem down in R&D, they're asking for you.

Lena made a face. “Is it Dillard again?”

“Among others,” Jess confirmed. “Apparently they blew up something important this time.”

“Of course they did.” Lena sighed. “I'm sorry,” she said to Kara and Supergirl. “Can we reschedule?”

What else could they do but agree?

But as soon as Lena had swept out of the office with her secretary, Supergirl's mask of congeniality vanished. “Who are you, and what do you want with Lena?!” she hissed, beating Kara to the metaphorical punch.

“Who am _I_?” Kara spluttered, trying to keep her voice down. “Who are _you_? What do _you_ want with Lena!? If you hurt her...”

“I would _never_ hurt Lena!”

She actually sounded indignant. Kara had to resist the immediate impulse to take her at her word. The phone in her pocket rang into the sudden silence. That would be Winn, calling to tell her that the other Kara had left Catco.

They hadn't accounted for super speed.

“Who is that? Who are you working with?” Supergirl demanded.

“Who are _you_ working with?” Kara shot back, declining the call without looking. There was nothing Winn could do right now, and Kara wasn't about to reveal her allies.

“This is ridiculous!” Supergirl made as if to reach for the phone, pausing with her hand outstretched, a distant look crossing her face. Kara knew that look. She could almost hear the call for help.

“Go on,” she said, crossing her arms. “You're Supergirl, right? So go save people.”

“This isn't over...” Supergirl warned her, but she took off with a snap of her cape, vanishing out the window.

Kara fled, blowing past the startled Jess and into the elevator. Tears of frustration stung the backs of her eyes, and she wrapped her arms so tightly around herself it hurt. It was stupid, and irrational, and probably the only reason she was still alive, but Kara still couldn't quite ignore the fact that _Lena hadn't noticed._

Supergirl had rescued her, carried her home, made lunch plans with her, and still Lena hadn't noticed that she wasn't talking to the real Supergirl. She'd been _happy_ to see her.

What would have happened if Kara had told her the truth?

Would Lena even have believed her?

Why should she?

Kara had been lying to her since the day she'd met her. What right did she have to expect Lena to see the truth now?

Rubbing a sleeve across her eyes, Kara left the building at a walk, pulling her hood back up over her head. She had a little time while Supergirl was out saving whoever needed to be saved, and being out in public gave her the same protection being with Lena had. Supergirl couldn't be seen attacking a civilian and still be Supergirl. She used a little of the money Winn had given her to buy a hotdog overflowing with toppings, trying to soothe the ache in her heart by filling her stomach.

She threw out her napkin in a trashbin when she was finished, taking out her phone instead and wandering down the almost empty sidewalk. She really wanted to call Alex. She needed her sister like she needed to breathe, but she'd meant what she'd told Winn. Alex could already be compromised, and if _Lena_ hadn't noticed anything...

Kara wanted to believe her sister would know her instantly. But Alex had done a lot of unbelievable things lately. Most of them amazing, but some of them not so much. She couldn't risk it. Not without proof.

She was just about to call Winn when the phone lit up with his name and number. She thumbed the answer button.

“Winn-”

“Kara!” he cut her off. “You have to get somewhere safe! Get back to my place if you can, but anywhere-”

Kara gasped as she was yanked into a narrow alleyway between buildings. Her phone clattered to the ground, Winn's warning cutting off with a final crunch under a heavy boot. She took a breath to scream, but her assailant clamped a black gloved hand over her mouth, pulling her tightly against him and pinning her arms to her sides. She struggled, but someone else yanked her hood down and snatched the sunglasses off her face.

“It's her,” snapped a familiar voice.

Kara had just enough time to recognize Agents Vasquez and Demos before the sharp prongs of a taser were jammed into her side, and then there was nothing but pain and the belated realization that Supergirl had allies too.

*****

She woke up in one of the DEO's cells; sprawled out on the floor and aching in every cell of her being. She could have cried out of sheer frustration, but everything she had been through so far, awful as it was, paled in comparison to the sight of Alex looking down at her from the other side of the clear barrier; Supergirl at her side, and no sign of recognition in her eyes.

 

 

 

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara's no good day gets progressively weirder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to Flavoured_Broadcast for all the help with this one! 
> 
> Who would have thought it would be so difficult to write two people effectively talking to themselves for half a chapter? :D

“Alex...?”

Kara pushed herself up off the floor, pressing a hand over the sharp, burning pain in her side as she staggered to her feet. “Alex it's me... I don't know what she's told you, but you _know_ me, I know you do _.”_ Taking a shaky step forward, Kara laid her free hand flat against the barrier between them. “Alex, please... I need you.”

Alex's stoic mask wavered, doubt briefly softening the hard line of her mouth. Her fingers twitched and Kara held her breath, but Supergirl intervened, catching Alex's wrist before she could reach out to mirror Kara's gesture.

“Don't listen to her,” she said, pushing Alex back and putting herself protectively between them, not unlike Kara might have done if their roles had been reversed. “She's lying.”

Kara's hand closed into a fist, and she slammed it against the barrier, doing little more than giving herself another bruise but too mad to care.“You're the one who's lying, you … you... _imposter!_ Get away from my sister!”

“ _My_ sister,” Supergirl spat back.

“Enough!” Alex tugged against Supergirls grip on her wrist, leveling her with her patented _are you serious right now? l_ ook when she didn't immediately let go. “Thank you,” she said when Supergirl reluctantly released her. “Now get out of my way.”

“Alex...”

“ _Move.”_

Supergirl moved.

Kara almost felt sorry for her. Godlike strength had nothing on Alex Danvers.

She came forward, stopping just on the other side of the clear wall and meeting Kara's eyes with her familiar measuring stare. Kara spread her aching hand flat again, willing her to remember another day and another crisis, when Alex had believed her sister could do the impossible, and demanded that she believe it too. Kara had come through for them then, and she needed Alex to come through for her now.

This time Alex raised her hand, laying it over Kara's on the other side of the barrier. “Okay,” she said after the longest sixty seconds of Kara's life.

“Okay?” Kara hardly dared believe it.

Alex nodded. “Okay.”

“What are you doing...?” Supergirl demanded, but Alex ignored her, unlocking the cell with a quick swipe of her palm.

“I'm so sorry,” she said, throwing herself over the threshold and wrapping her arms around Kara in a hug that made up for about ninety percent of the last twenty-four hours.

Kara closed stinging eyes and buried her face in Alex's shoulder, holding her as tightly as she could. Glad for the first time all day that she didn't have her powers.“It's okay.”

“We had to be sure.”

“I know.”

Kara could practically _feel_ Supergirl silently seething behind them, but she was in no hurry to let go. “What about _her?”_ she asked when she finally stepped back, sniffing and wiping away a few tears that had managed to escape with the edge of her sleeve.

Alex glanced between them. “Look... I don't know exactly what's going on here, but I trust my gut, and right now it's telling me you're my sister.” she paused. “ _Both_ of you.”

Kara looked at Supergirl.

Supergirl looked back.

“That's ridiculous,” Kara said for both of them. 'I would know if there were two of me.”

“You mean two of _me,”_ Supergirl shot back, arms crossed over her chest.

Alex rolled her eyes, but a commotion down the hall distracted her from whatever she might have said to that.

“Alex!” Winn had burst through the doors, only to find himself blocked by the two very large men in combat gear Alex had left on guard. “'S'cuse me guys, I just need to see- Ow, ow, ow... okay, easy on the shoulder. “Alex, help!?”

“Let him through.”

Winn shook out his arm and half-ran down the hall, waving a crumpled sheaf of papers in his other hand. “Alex, you're making a mistake, it's Ka- Oh.” He paused. “You already let her out. Hey Kara.”

“Hi,” they said in unison, immediately stopping to glare at each other.

“That's so cool...” Winn marveled, looking them over.

“Winn?” Alex prompted him. “What do you know?”

“Oh, right.” He shook himself. “So I've been scanning the internet for pictures anyone might have posted of the yacht attack, trying to figure out what happened, and I found this.” He handed Alex a grainey print out. “That's Supergirl flying in, and then this one...” He handed her a second picture, “is her getting hit with that blast of light. Then there's a few angles of her falling and hitting the water, and then this, this is the important one...”

Kara leaned over to see the last picture. In it Supergirl was just bursting out of the ocean and in the very corner, almost obscured by the spray... there was a hand reaching up out of the water with just the cuff of a familiar cupcake-covered sleeve visible above the waves.

“It split them...” Alex said, taking the photograph.”You knew about this? Why didn't you tell me?”

“I knew _something_ was going on,” Winn admitted. “But I didn't have any proof. I was down at the docks just having a look around when Supergirl called in Vasquez and Demos. By the time I realized what was happening, it was too late. I got back here as quickly as I could. How did _you_ know?”

“I know my sister, _”_ Alex said. “Or sisters,” she amended. She sounded remarkably calm about the whole thing. Kara, on the other hand, was not feeling very calm at all.

“What do you mean it _split_ us?”

“She means we're only half of who we thought we were,” Supergirl said, arms crossed. “How is that even possible?”

Winn shrugged. “Beats me. We can run some tests, but if Alex says you're both Kara, that's good enough for me.”

Alex handed the pictures back. “I appreciate the vote of confidence, but since we can't write _Alex said so,_ on the paperwork, let's run those tests. I want to know exactly what we're dealing with here.”

_Some_ tests turned out to mean everything Winn, Alex and J'onn could think of, and a few things Supergirl thought of too, by the end of which Kara had been poked, prodded, measured and evaluated to the point where even  _she_ didn't know who she was anymore. Supergirl, of course, had excelled at everything. She had all the speed, strength, invulnerability and other powers that made Supergirl Supergirl. She was also smarter than Kara, and annoyingly condescending in a pompous sort of way now that she wasn't trying to protect everyone from her evil twin. (Not that she apologized for that, or for sending Vasquez and Demos after Kara and getting her tasered and locked in a cell.) 

Her one weakness was, as it had always been, Kryptonite. Which was the only test Kara actually beat her in. It had been so strange to hold the green rock in her hands and feel nothing while Supergirl shuddered and whimpered behind her.

J'onn's psychic abilities had been another revelation. 

J'onn had laid a hand on her shoulder and touched her mind, just a gentle brush of his thoughts over hers only enough to confirm that she was who she said she was, but it had been...a  _lot_ . Kara had known they shared a loss, but it was one thing to know it, and another to  _feel_ it; the broken mirror of her desolation of losing not only a family, but an entire  _world._ Afterwards he apologized, pulling her into one of his rare hugs and whispering something soft and comforting in Martian over her head. Kara managed not to cry that time, but it had been a near thing. 

When everyone finally declared themselves satisfied, and they'd gathered in one of the large conference rooms to go over their data, it was nearly dinner time and Kara was  _starving!_ She was mortified by the audible complaints of her stomach until Supergirl's gave an answering growl and even J'onn chuckled. 

“Well at least we know you both kept that famous appetite,” he said. “Other than that, it looks like whatever this weapon was, it divided you two psychically as well as physically. Everything that makes you alien is in Supergirl, leaving Kara Danvers entirely human.”

“How?” Kara demanded, flopping down miserably into one of the padded chairs. “I'm _Kryptonian_. Even if my powers have been taken away, that shouldn't change who I am. Living as a human doesn't make me part human... How can a weapon, even an alien weapon, divide me into a half that doesn't exist?”

J'onn shook his head. “I wish I could answer that.”

“So why do it?” Winn asked. “If Supergirl is just as strong as ever, why split them apart? It doesn't make any sense.”

“It does if you consider the possibility that the point wasn't to weaken Supergirl, but to create a version of her that was already inherently vulnerable.” J'onn said. “When I touched Kara's mind, I felt the link between them. Even though I couldn't reach into Supergirl's thoughts, I could feel her presence. They're still connected, still two halves of a whole. It's likely that neither one could survive without the other.”

“So whoever did this might have been trying to destroy Supergirl by killing Kara...” Alex frowned, her protective big-sister vibes cranking up a notch. “He knows she didn't drown, because Supergirl is still alive, which means he'll try again.”

“Let him,” Supergirl declared, hands on her hips. “I beat him once, I can do it again.”

“He got away,” Kara felt the need to point out, her ego still a little bruised from an afternoon of scientifically proven inferiority, “and I almost died. Not exactly a win for us.”

“I would have saved you if I'd known,” Supergirl said with a haughty toss of her hair.

“He still would have gotten away.”

Supergirl bristled, but before she could retort, Alex put a soothing hand on her shoulder. “No one is doubting you,” she said, giving Kara a sharp side eye before she could open her mouth to argue. “We just need to keep everyone safe until we figure this out. Maybe you two should stay here for now.”

“No way!” Kara said, jumping up. “This guy already used Lena to draw me out. If we disappear he might go after her again, or _you_ or anyone else we care about. We can't just hide.” Plus she really, really wanted to go home. It was silly, but she couldn't shake the feeling that if she could just go home to her apartment and put on her own clothes and sleep in her own bed, maybe this would all start to make sense somehow.

“I won't abandon my responsibilities,” Supergirl agreed, gracing her with an approving nod. Kara resisted the urge to throw something at her. “I can protect Kara _and_ the people of National City.”

“I understand your concern Alex,” J'onn added, “but if this alien was a match for Supergirl, he wouldn't have needed to divide them. I think Kara will be safe with her.”

“Fine,” Alex said, grudgingly, “but only if you promise to stay together _at all times_ , and that means no wild heroics!” she directed that last at Supergirl. “Anything happens, you call me and you keep Kara safe.” She paused. “Maybe I should stay with you tonight...”

“Don't you have a date with Maggie?” Supergirl asked before Kara could whole-heartedly support that plan. As much as she wanted to go home, she wasn't looking forward to being alone with this unexpectedly frustrating side of herself.

“I can cancel...”

She would too, Kara could tell. She had that familiar self-sacrificing look on her face, and now Kara felt like the worst sister ever. “No, don't do that,” she said reluctantly. “You should go.” 

“I agree,” J'onn put in. “We can't put our lives on hold every time there's a crisis. Kara and Supergirl will be fine at their apartment, and Agent Schott and I will monitor the situation from here and continue the search for our culprit and this weapon. We'll need to figure out how this was done if we're going to undo it.”

“Wait, why do I have to pull the all-nighter?” 

“Because I said so.”

Winn shrugged. “Fair enough.”

Alex looked torn. “I still think I should...”

Supergirl took her by the shoulders and physically turned her towards the exit, giving her a gentle push. “Go. Have fun. Call us when you get home, or in the morning,” she added teasingly. “We'll want details.”

Alex was still blushing by the time she finally left, after giving them about a dozen more instructions and hugging them each in turn. It was a little weird watching Alex hug a her that wasn't her... Alex didn't seem to mind, but could she really care that much about both of them? Kara had already been worried about being a burden, then Maggie came along, and now Alex had _two_ sisters to take care of. She'd always had more heart than anyone Kara had ever known, even if she'd gotten pretty good at hiding it, but there had to be a limit, right? 

“Are you ready to go too?” Supergirl asked Kara, holding out her arms expectantly. 

Oh.  _Oh_ no... It was a perfectly reasonable offer. Practical and safe, and even generous, but Kara's stomach twisted at the idea of giving up this last little piece of agency she had left. “No,” she said taking a step back.

“Come on, if I carry you we can be home in less than five minutes, and you can order dinner on the way.”

“We can take a taxi and be there in fifteen,.”

“Supergirl can't just take a taxi!”

Kara scrubbed a hand over her face. She was so  _tired,_ and her feet hurt, and her side hurt, and her everything hurt, and she knew she was being irrational, but she figured she was owed one irrational moment in all of this. “Then  _you_ fly, and  _I'll_ take the taxi.”

“We promised Alex we'd stay together,” Supergirl pointed out, giving Kara a wounded look. “Don't you trust me?”

_No,_ Kara wanted to say, but she wasn't so put out that she didn't recognize how ridiculous that would sound. Before she could think of something better, Supergirl had sighed and blurred into motion, snatching Kara up and launching them both into the air and out of the DEO. 

“Hey!” Kara yelped, scrabbling for a hold around Supergirl's neck as the wind whistled past them. This was so much less fun when she wasn't the one driving. “What do you think you're doing?!”

“Going home.”

“I said no!”

“I overruled you.”

“You can't do that.”

“I just did.”

Because  _you're not the boss of me! w_ ould have been childish, and  _put me down! w_ asn't exactly smart either, given that they were currently several hundred in the air and only one of them could fly, Kara kept her mouth shut for the rest of the flight. Once they touched down in her living room and her feet were on the floor however, she rounded on Supergirl, all of her frustration with this horrible, no good day boiling over. “I can't  _believe_ you! That was...  _ugh!”_ She threw her hands in the air, having enough self control left to know that punching herself was only going to end in more tears. _“How_ are you me? Does consent mean  _nothing_ to you?”

Supergirl breezed past her with a shrug. “You were being unreasonable, and it was easier than arguing with you.”

Kara followed her into the kitchen. “That doesn't make it okay. We don't get to just  _decide_ when people are being unreasonable and then force them to do things our way because it's easier!”

Supergirl spun around, making Kara rock back on her heels. “Why not? Don't pretend you've never been tempted. You can't lie to me. We've  _always_ known better than everyone else.”

“That's not true!” Kara spluttered. “And even if it was, that's not who I want to be.”

“Maybe it's who _I_ want to be!”

“Well I won't let you!”

Supergirl snorted. “How are you going to stop me?”

“I'll tell Alex!”

There was a long pause, the tension between them simmering to the breaking point, and then dissipating with a nearly audible  _pop_ when Supergirl sagged back against the counter, dropping her head and running suddenly trembling fingers through her hair. She muttered something in angry Kryptonian, too softly for Kara to make out, the words frighteningly unfamiliar. “I'm sorry,” she said finally. Grudgingly. “I'm not... I didn't mean that.”

Kara crossed her arms, gripping her elbows tightly and trying to look less shaken then she felt. “You sounded like Astra.” 

Supergirl winced visibly, lifting her chin to fix Kara with a look that was both belligerent and somehow lost.“I'm sorry,” she said again. “This is weird for me too. I feel like there's something missing, like I'm out of balance.”

“I get that,” oh _Rao_ did she get that _,_ “but you can't just bully your way into making any of this okay, all right?”

Supergirl nodded, and Kara exhaled shakily, relieved that the crisis seemed to have passed. She moved over to lean against the counter next to her thoroughly chastened counterpart. “I think I've cried like... six times today,” she offered.

“I'm pretty sure that's not as bad as threatening the world with questionably benevolent dictatorship just to win an argument.”

“Probably not,” Kara agreed, “but I was kind of being a jerk about it too so... truce?” She offered her hand.

“Truce,” Supergirl said, shaking on it. “Maybe you should be the one making the decisions from now on. Of the two of us, I think you're the better candidate right now.”

“Seriously?” Kara gaped. 

“Seriously. And your first decision will be...” she straightened up to pull two take-out menus off the fridge, holding them up for comparison. “Pizza or Chinese?”

Kara grinned. “Why not both?”

Supergirl beamed back at her. “Both is good.”

 

***** 

 

“Both was _not_ good,” Kara groaned, laying miserably on the couch with her arms wrapped around her aching middle. “Both was _terrible.”_ She should never have agreed to an eating contest with herself. Between the two of them they'd decimated two medium pizzas and most of a dinner for four with extra potstickers on the side. “How are you _still_ eating?”

Supergirl just shrugged and took another bite of pizza, looking a little odd curled up in Kara's armchair in a pair of her, (or  _ their _ ) penguin pajamas (Kara was in the pizza ones, and she'd reclaimed her glasses.) It should have been like seeing herself in a mirror, but it wasn't. Kara had never realized just how different she was as Supergirl. “Stomach of steel?” she suggested without a trace of sympathy. “Do you remember if we had any ice cream?”

“You're the worst!” Kara muttered, rolling over and burying her face in a cushion. “There's mint-chip in the freezer, but it's Alex's. She might actually murder us if we eat it.” Footsteps on the way to the kitchen slowed, paused, and then came back. “Good call.”

“We're not  _ actually _ afraid of her,” Supergirl seemed to feel the need to point out, sitting down again without the ice cream.

“Yes we are.” Kara mumbled into the cushion. “Do you think her date is going well?” she added after a moment, turning over to look up at the ceiling.

“Probably.” Supergirl sounded more interested in the last of the fried rice than Alex's love life. “Why?”

“I just wondered...” She sat up and drew her knees up under her chin. It would have been embarrassing to admit this to anyone else, but since she was effectively taking to herself... “I think I might be jealous.”

“Of Maggie?”

“No. Maybe... I know we want Alex to be happy but... are we lonely?”

Supergirl looked up from the paper carton. “Lonely how? ”

“I don't know... It's just... everyone else is moving on, finding new ways to be themselves and I feel like we're getting left behind. It 's been like that ever since Kal left...” 

Supergirl nodded. “He understood us.”

“He abandoned us,” Kara said without thinking, a little surprised to hear Alex's words coming out of her mouth, and more surprised to find that she agreed with them. 

“He had to get back to Metropolis and Lois-”

“No,” Kara cut in. “When we first landed here. He left us with the Danvers and just...  _ flew off.” _

Supergirl frowned and put the food down on the coffee table. _ “ _ That wasn't his fault. He wanted us to have a family, like he did.”

“He  _ was  _ our family! He was the only family we  _ had.  _ We should have been with  _ him,  _ in Metropolis.” 

“But then we wouldn't have Alex,” Supergirl pointed out. 

“We don't even  _ have  _ Alex anymore,” Kara grumped, flopping back down on the couch. “Not like we did. She has Maggie now.”

Supergirl looked thoughtful, chopsticks tapping against her lips. “Then maybe we need someone else,”she said matter of factly. She dropped her chopsticks into one of the empty containers and picked up their phone. 

“Wait, who are you calling?”

“You'll see.”

“Hey! I thought I was making the decisions...” Kara scrambled for the phone, but lost out to super speed and the ability to hover just out of reach.

“Right after this one...”Supergirl promised. “Hi Lena,”she said in Kara's voice (Kara hadn't been aware she  _ had  _ separate voices.) “I'm sorry for calling so late...”

Kara fumed from the floor while her duplicitous other half sat above her on the ceiling and apologized for running out of Lena's office earlier, blaming Snapper and his tyrannical management of the newsroom, and making plans for tomorrow. 

“Noon?” She looked down at Kara who was tempted to say no just for spite, but it wasn't worth passing up lunch with her best friend. She nodded. 

“I'll see you then!” Supergirl hung up and did a little somersault, floating back down with a decidedly dopey look on her face. “There!”

“There,  _ what _ ?” Kara demanded, feeling very uneasy about this. “We already have Lena. She's our best friend.”

“But we don't _need_ a friend,” Supergirl said with the air of explaining something very simple to someone very stupid. “We have Alex and James, and Winn and everyone else for that. We need what Alex has. We need a Maggie.”

Uneasiness began to verge on panic. “I.. you...” Kara was at a momentary loss for words. It took her a moment to find some that fit together in any kind of rational order.“Lena can't be our Maggie,” she said finally. “Or... whatever that is.”

“Why not?

“Because...” and she couldn't believe she had to explain this. “we're not gay.”

Supergirl looked confused. “I'm pretty sure we are.”

Kara was pretty sure they weren't. “No, we're not.”

“Maybe  _ you're  _ not,” Supergirl said with a shrug, starting to gather up some of the take-out containers and taking them to the kitchen,“but  _ I _ am.”

“That doesn't make any sense,” Kara said, following her. “We can't be half-gay.”

“We're not half-human either. Maybe we're bisexual?”

“I don't think it works like that.”

“How would you know? You're not gay.” The sarcastic air-quotes were implied.

All right, that was a fair point. She tried a different tack. “Why Lena?”

Supergirl finished putting everything away and turned around. “Umm... because she's brilliant and sweet, and gorgeous and we've been in love with her for months? How have you been suppressing this? I understand denying the occasional urge for world domination, but come  _ on.  _ What next? Are you going to pretend we never had a crush on  _ Cat _ ?”

“I did  _ not  _ have a  _ crush  _ on  _ Miss. Grant! _ ” Kara hissed, not entirely sure why she felt the need to whisper. This conversation was making her very uncomfortable. 

The look Supergirl leveled her with was highly skeptical. “I'm sorry,” she said. “That must have been me. Oh wait... we're the s _ ame person _ !”

“Okay,  _ you _ ... are clearly crazy.” Kara told her. “We're going to forget this conversation ever happened,” she said, going back for the empty boxes and jamming them into the garbage with a little more force than was strictly necessary, “and tomorrow we're just going to have a nice lunch with our best friend, and that is all. Lena is amazing and wonderful, but I am  _ no _ t in love with her.”

Supergirl watched her quietly for a moment and then grinned. “Good,” she said. “Then you won't mind if Supergirl asks her out, right?”

Kara froze with the last pizza box half in and half out of the garbage bag. It was a testament to her state of mind that she wasn't even recycling. “You wouldn't.”

Supergirl just grinned wider. 

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara struggles with being human, Supergirl is a gay mess and Lena can't catch a break.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey look, I'm back! :)
> 
> Seriously, I'm sorry for the long wait on this one, but there were many forces beyond my control bent on preventing me from writing anything worth looking at. Most of those have been resolved, so I shouldn't be disappearing again anytime soon.
> 
> Big thanks to Flavoured_Broadcast for the help with this chapter! Without which I would probably have thrown it in the bin.

“So how long do you think until they get us put back together?” Supergirl asked, bouncing along after Kara into Catco the next morning. She was the very embodiment of sunshine, in an eye-wateringly bright sort of way.

Kara ignored both her presence and her enthusiasm, hitting the _up_ button for the elevators with more force than strictly necessary. It had not been a good morning. Any morning she woke up on the wrong side of the bed because her _literal other half_ was hogging the right side, was automatically a bad morning. Her head hurt, her eyes were all scratchy from lack of sleep, and for the first time in her life the idea of breakfast was nauseating.

She was also late for work.

“A week?” Supergirl either didn't notice or didn't care that she was being ignored. “Two?”

Kara really hoped not. She didn't think she could do two weeks of this. Two _days_ was already pushing it. “Come _on_...” she muttered under her breath. Where _was_ the stupid elevator?

“If you'd just let me fly us up, we'd be there already,” Supergirl pointed out.

“If you hadn't hogged the bathroom this morning we'd have been there ten minutes ago.”

Supergirl sighed. “Wait here.” She disappeared and reappeared with a familiar _woosh,_ shoving a cup of coffee and a cruller into Kara's hands. “Eat, drink, you'll feel better, and maybe you'll stop being so grumpy.”

“I am not grumpy,” Kara grumped, but she accepted the offering of caffeine and sugar anyway.

The elevator finally arrived, the doors sliding open on a handful of very surprised faces. There was the usual flutter of excitement when they recognized Supergirl waiting in the lobby, requests for pictures and autographs. To Supergirl's credit, she kept it brief, joining Kara in the elevator after only a few minutes, even glowier from all the attention. Kara felt small and shabby by comparison.

She took a sip of her coffee to drown out the bad thoughts, surprised by the smooth roll of caramel and whip cream over her tongue. It was her go-to order, which would make sense because obviously her go-to should also be Supergirl's go-to, but given how little they had in common so far, she hadn't really expected it. Unless latte preferences were one of the few places they overlapped, Supergirl was being surprisingly considerate and she didn't really know what to do with that.

Either way, by the time they reached their floor the coffee was half gone and (thanks to the effects of caffeine on the human nervous system,) Kara was feeling a little bit more like herself. “Good morning, James,” she said in an approximation of her usual cheeriness.

“Good morn-” James broke off as he turned around, his welcoming grin faltering. He looked back and forth between them like they were some kind of strange two headed monster and he wasn't quite sure which head he should be talking to. “-ing, Kara...” he decided, recovering quickly. “And Supergirl, always a pleasure.”

“Mr. Olsen.” Supergirl had her official superhero face on, complete with the blinding smile.

“So... how are you two handling all of this?” he asked, pitching his voice for their ears only. “I thought Winn was joking at first, but there really _are_ two of you. I saw you or I guess _you_ ,” he glanced sideways at Supergirl, “yesterday and I had no idea. You seemed so... _normal_.”

Kara rolled her eyes.“We're still _us._ It's not like there's a right one and wrong one.”

“Of course not,” James backpedaled hastily. “But obviously you're different. Supergirl is still an alien, you're human. One of you has powers and the other doesn't. Do you have the same personality traits? Opinions, likes, dislikes? I mean, people argue with themselves all the time, right?”

“Right,” Supergirl agreed eagerly. “And now that you mention it, there is something we can't seem to agree on. Maybe you could settle it for us?”

James shrugged. “I'm always happy to help. What-”

“No! no.” Kara cut him off. She knew _exactly_ which argument Supergirl was talking about and James' was the very last opinion they needed. “That's okay. I'm sure you have much more important things to do than listen to us fight. Come on.” she grabbed Supergirl by the elbow, dragging her in the direction of the newsroom. “You two can have an existentialist debate on the duality of human nature later. Right now we have work to do. See you later, James!”

Supergirl reluctantly allowed herself to be dragged. “Why don't you want to talk to James about Lena?” once they were out of earshot.

“Because it's none of his business.”

“He's our friend, I thought he might be able to help.”

“And our _ex-boyfriend_ ,” Kara reminded her. “Do you really think he's the best person to ask?”

Supergirl made a face. “I forgot about that.”

“He's also our boss, and we're at work,” she added, just in case that wasn't enough of a deterrent.

“He's _your_ boss,” Supergirl said with a toss of her hair. “But you're probably right. He's biased. I still think we could use an outside opinion though. Can we ask Winn?”

Kara was about to point out that half of their opinions were technically outside opinions at the moment, but she didn't get the chance.

“Danvers!” The shout echoed across the newsroom.

Kara pushed her glasses up and straightened her shoulders. “Hey, Boss...”

Snapper boiled up to them like an overdone potato in a badly fitting button-up. “Where the Hell have you been, and what's _she_ doing here?”

“I um...”

“It's my fault, Mr. Carr.” Supergirl interjected smoothly, putting herself between them. “I borrowed Miss Danvers this morning. I have information on the alien involved in the yacht attack. I believe he may strike again.”

“Hmph.” Snapper mulled that over for a moment, weighing the pros and cons of a good story versus a well deserved chewing out. “I don't suppose you'd be willing to share that information with one of my more senior reporters?”

“Miss Danvers has my full and complete trust.”

“Fine, but that story better be on my desk, pronto!”

“Absolutely, Boss.” Kara resisted the urge to salute.

Snapper grumbled an acknowledgment and blustered away to yell at someone else. Kara blew out a sigh of relief and led the way into her office. “You don't have to do that,” she said closing the door behind them.

“Do what?” Supergirl asked, confused.

“Coffee, donuts, defending me from Snapper... You don't have to take care of me, okay? I'm not a child.”

“I'm just trying to help.”

“Well _don't._ ” Kara dropped into her chair, shoving aside yesterday's notes to make space for her donut and the the half empty coffee cup. Rao, Supergirl was a slob. A shiny, happy do-gooding slob who was not only smarter, stronger and more confidant than Kara, she was also being _nice_ , and right now that was just one too many things she was better at and Kara really needed a minute here or she was going to start crying again.

Supergirl hovered just inside the doorway, looking torn between apology and indignation. “I don't know what else to _do,”_ she said finally. “There's a robbery happening on fifth street, a fire down by the waterfront, and a little girl just broke her arm falling off the monkey bars. I'm _supposed_ to be out there keeping people safe, not following myself around all day, but I can't be out there because you're in _here,_ and if anything happens to _you,_ we're both dead.” She paused to take a breath. “So if taking care of you is what I have to do today so _we_ can keep our city safe tomorrow, I'm going to do my best, okay?”

Oh.

“I'm being awful, aren't I?”

“A little bit, yeah.”

“I'm sorry...” Kara sat back in her chair, rubbing her aching eyes. Coffee or no coffee, she still felt like she'd been run over by a bus. “I'll try not to be so difficult, but if you could be just a _little_ bit less shiny, that would help a lot.”

“Less shiny?” Supergirl sounded doubtful.

“Please.”

Supergirl looked down at herself, as if hoping to find some kind of dimmer switch affixed to her suit. “How?”

Kara might have committed murder, then and there, but her phone rang before she could muster up the energy. Choosing sugar over violence, she took a big bite of her cruller and tossed her phone to Supergirl who caught it neatly and put it on speaker.

“Hi Winn!”

“Hey there, Girls of Steel, I've found your mystery man. I finished compiling all the civilian and security footage of the attack, and I've got _one_ picture at just the right angle so we can see the face under that hood. I'm sending it over.”

“He's human.” Supergirl said after studying the picture, throwing the phone back so Kara could see for herself.

She fumbled the catch, nearly dropping it. “At least he looks human,” she agreed. “Do we know who he is?” she asked Winn.

“Not yet, but I'll keep looking.”

“Thanks. I'm having lunch with Lena today. I'll show her the picture. Maybe she'll recognize him.”

“Good luck,” he said, signing off. “I'll let you guys know if I find anything else.”

*****

The restaurant was busy, but after two years of working for Cat Grant, Kara knew how to drop a name, and _Luthor_ fell harder than most. Lena was running late, but the hostess led Kara to a table on the patio. Lena liked to people-watch, making up ridiculous fictional histories for the people bustling past on the sidewalk to make Kara laugh, and Kara just liked to be outside.

Supergirl landed with a snap of her cape, drawing gasps and murmurs from the other tables. She ignored them, taking the seat beside Kara. “No sign of anyone following you yet.”

“Then why are you here?” Kara hissed. “I thought we agreed you were going to stay out of sight.”

“But I'm hungry.” Supergirl picked up the other menu.

Kara snatched it out of her hands. “You are not. You just want to see Lena!”

Supergirl didn't bother to deny it. “Shhh, here she comes...”

Sure enough, Lena was just visible through the crowd, her bright blue coat standing out in a sea of gray and black suits. She had her hands in her pockets, and her face tipped up to the warm sun. The light made a kind of halo around her, accentuating her already unearthly beauty.

Supergirl couldn't take her eyes off her.

“Stop that!” Kara kicked her under the table, wondering if it was still considered second-hand embarrassment if you were in fact mortified on your own behalf, just not the half you were, you know, _being_ at the moment. “You're practically drooling!”

Supergirl closed her mouth, chastened but unrepentant. “I can't help it,” she whined, doing more to tarnish that godlike shine than any of her efforts on Kara's behalf that morning. “She _curled her hair_ , and she's wearing those strappy heels...”

“Don't even think it!” Kara warned her, struggling to find the words to make her understand. Supergirl might have the advantage over her in literally every other way, but she was an idiot when it came to this. “It wouldn't be fair. If Supergirl asks her out without telling her the truth, it would be like lying to her all over again. You can't _trick_ her into dating her best friend.”

“Then let's switch,” Supergirl suggested hurriedly. “You be me and I'll be you.”

“What?”

“If Supergirl can't ask her out, then _you_ be Supergirl, and _I'll_ be Kara.”

“No way!”

“Why not?”

Kara had to resist the urge to kick her again. Her toes were already throbbing. “Because if anything happens, I can't exactly swoop down and save everyone, can I? Now pull yourself together. She's coming over.”

The hostess pointed Lena in their direction, and she looked pleased, if a little puzzled, to see Supergirl there beside Kara. “Should I be worried?” she asked, sitting down across from them. “Not that I'm not happy to see you again so soon, but I thought I'd already survived my weekly assassination attempt.”

“Oh don't worry about her,” Kara said, hoping to distract Lena from the all-too-obviously smitten superhero. “She's actually keeping an eye on me this time. We've been looking into the attack on your yacht, and she thinks someone might be following me. It's nothing really, right Supergirl?”

“...right,” Supergirl agreed, still staring adoringly at Lena's hair.

Lena didn't seem to notice, her attention all on Kara.

“Someone's following you? That doesn't sound like nothing.” Lena frowned. “My security company may not have superpowers, but they're the best money can buy. I could make a few calls and have someone assigned to you until you've finished your story...”

Kara blinked. “You want to buy me a bodyguard...?”

“Well, _rent_ is probably more accurate, but yes, why not? Kara this is serious. You need to be careful.”

“Um...” Kara tried to imagine navigating this whole _other me_ scenario with the added complication of a well-muscled civilian following her around and... no. just no. “I appreciate the offer, really...”

“But I've got this,” Supergirl jumped in, joining the conversation just in time to play the hero. “Human security would only get in my way,” she boasted. “Kara's in good hands.”

“Of course,” Lena seemed a little taken aback. “I only meant, when you're not around... you _do_ have an entire city to protect after all.”

Supergirl dismissed Lena's concerns with a wave of her hand. “Kara comes first, always,” she continued on, as if she'd never once made a complete fool of herself over a few curls and a pair of shoes. “I won't let anything happen to her.”

“See?” Kara added weakly. “I already have the best bodyguard in the world. I'll be fine.”

“Well... I'll try not to worry then.” Lena's smile was a little stiff around the edges.

“There is something you can do,” Kara said, hoping to steer the conversation away from Supergirl's painfully obvious attempt to impress Lena. “Do you recognize this person?” she pulled up the picture on her phone and handed it over.

Lena took it, sitting back in her chair and frowning down at the screen. “This is the alien who attacked my ship?”

“Yes, do you know him?”

“His name is Francis Miller. He's an engineering major at National City University. He did an internship with Lcorp a few months ago... ”

“Is there any reason he might want to hurt you?”

“Not that I know of.” Lena gave the phone back to Kara. “His work was adequate, but hardly extraordinary. He was placed with one of my senior engineers. I barely spoke to him.”

Supergirl and Kara exchanged a loaded glance.

“Do you still have his contact information?” Kara asked.

“I have records of all Lcorp employees.” Lena pulled out her phone and made a quick call. “Jess? Hi, could you pull up Francis Miller's file for me and transfer it to my cell, please? Thank you.” She hung up and pressed a few more buttons. “There, I've forwarded everything to you.”

“You're amazing!” Kara scribbled down the address and phone number into her notebook and ripped out the page, handing it to Supergirl. “You'll get this information into the right hands?” Kara asked, knowing that it would be a quick call on her communicator, but also knowing that Supergirl would be itching to get up into the air and make sure this guy was nowhere near them.

Supergirl nodded. “Thank you, Lena. Kara, I'll see you soon.” She took off, tablecloths flapping and napkins swirling in her wake. She wouldn't be far, just far enough to establish a perimeter. Kara watched her go, grateful for the space, but also a little jealous that Supergirl could actually _do_ something.

“I'm guessing the police aren't an option either,” Lena said once she was out of sight, dragging Kara's attention back to the table.

Kara shook her head. “Probably better to let Supergirl handle it.”

“Then there's no reason we can't enjoy our lunch is there?” Lena signaled the waiter, and within minutes they had drinks and appetizers on the way. “Now,” Lena leaned forward, elbows on the table and a glint of mischief in her eyes. “Tell me all the latest office gossip...”

Kara laughed, all the worry and frustration of the last two days falling away. Lena was like that. She could be a total badass in the face of danger, taking on super villains, alien weapons and her own Machiavellian family, and then turn around and make Kara feel like the most important person in the world over lunch and cocktails.

But in spite of her wide smile and the easy flow of conversation, Lena was only toying with her salad, teasing apart the leafy greens and pushing all the almonds and blueberries into little piles before chasing them around her plate again. She set her fork down and picked it back up over a dozen times before Kara finally called her on it.

“Okay, what's wrong?”

“Nothing, why?” Lena did surprised innocence very well.

“You're not eating.”

“I had a big breakfast.”

Kara put on her best skeptical face.

“Fine,” Lena gave in with a rueful twist to her mouth. “I've been wanting to talk to you about something, but before I do, I have to ask... you and Supergirl, you're very close?”

“Um, not really...” Kara trailed off, not quite sure where this was going, or how to talk about Supergirl without adding more lies to the pile. “I mean we _are_ , or we were, but...” she floundered, taking a gulp of water. “It's complicated.”

“Of course.” Lena's tone was light, almost careless. “It must be difficult dating someone with a secret identity.”

Kara nearly choked on an ice cube. “...wait, what?” she asked when she could breathe again.

“You and Supergirl, you're not...?”

Kara shook her head frantically. “No! No, we're uh... friends. Just friends. We're not gay,” she added, just to be clear. What was it with everyone thinking she was gay all of a sudden? “I mean I wouldn't know about Supergirl, but I think she's um, you know, married to the whole super-heroing thing.” Okay, that was mostly a lie, but what was she _supposed_ to say? This was not a conversation she'd been prepared for!

“She certainly seems to have time for _you,_ ” Lena pointed out, taking a sip of her water.

Kara winced. “That's different. We're working together.”

“You're sure that's all it is?” Lena set her cup down, drumming perfectly manicured nails against the glass. “I wouldn't blame you for being interested,” she added with a suggestive quirk to the corner of her lips. “She's impressive, and you do share a certain philanthropic enthusiasm. You'd made a powerful couple.”

Kara mumbled a denial and ducked her head, trying to hide the flush she could feel in her cheeks. She had no idea why she was blushing, but she really needed it to _stop_.

“Is there someone else?”

“Um... well, there was James,” Kara said, twisting her fork in her hands. “Which you already know. Oh, and Adam. He's Ms Grant's son. We went on a couple of dates. He's very nice. And there's this guy who used to be sort of a family friend, and my sister thinks I should go for it, but he's not really my type...”

“So, that's a no?” Lena was kind enough not to mock her for her rambling, though there was something about the tilt to her mouth that suggested she might be biting back a laugh. “Would you like there to be?”

Kara shrugged. “I guess... but even if she, I wouldn't, it wouldn't be... I like boys.” she finished lamely.

“Oh.” Lena's smile faltered for less than the space between breaths, rebounding so quickly Kara wasn't sure she'd even seen it. “Right. Well,” she continued brightly, “You're lucky to have such a good friend then.”

Kara wasn't quite sure about her inflection on the word _friend._ “She's yours too you know.” That much was true at least.

“I don't think it's quite the same,” Lena said with a graceful shrug, wiping her hands on her napkin and laying it over her plate, “but thank you. Shall we see what they have for dessert?” she asked, dismissing the entire conversation along with her lunch.

Kara couldn't forget it quite so easily. What did Lena mean _it wasn't the same?_ Did she really think Supergirl was interested in _Kara_? If only she knew... She had trouble focusing through dessert. Not even pecan pie and two scoops of chocolate cherry ice cream could hold her attention. She was back behind her desk at Catco before she even realized Lena had never said what it was she'd wanted to talk about in the first place.

*****

“Maybe she's trying to set you up.” was Supergirl's guess. She'd hopped up to sit on the edge of Kara's desk while they worked on the story, swinging her legs like a five-year-old.

“Maybe...” Kara played with her pencil, not really even looking at her notes anymore. She'd already written down everything they knew about Francis Miller, which was next to nothing. Winn was very good at what he did, but either Miller had been most boring alien/engineering student on the planet up until he suddenly decided to attack a yacht, or he was very good at hiding his tracks. Kara was leaning towards boring. “But she seemed, I don't know... like she couldn't decide if she was happy we weren't dating, or disappointed.” Privately, Kara was beginning to wonder if there was something else behind Lena's strange behaviour, something with greener eyes than her own, but she obviously wasn't interested in _Kara_ , which only left... “Let's get back to Miller,” Kara said instead of examining that thought any further. “Do we think he's after Lena or Supergirl?”

Supergirl went along with the change of topic amiably enough, though Kara doubted they were finished with that particular conversation. “J'onn says that weapon was aimed at us.”

Kara wasn't entirely convinced of that. Miller's job _could_ be a coincidence, but it seemed unlikely. “Maybe he just needed us out of the way?”

“So you think Lena might still be in danger?”

“Isn't she always?”

Supergirl acknowledged the point with a huff of frustration. “What are we going to do? Alex and J'onn promised to keep an eye on Lcorp, but this guy nearly took  _us_ out, and I can't be in two places at once.”

Kara tipped back in her chair. “Isn't that exactly what we're doing?”

“No, we're being twice in the same place, and only one of us has powers!” Supergirl jumped down, moving restlessly around the tiny room. “This is ridiculous! What if we just told her?” she asked, turning back to Kara.

“About being in danger, or about us?”

Supergirl shrugged. “Both.”

If only it could be that easy. Kara hated lying to Lena. There was something so sincere, so genuine about her, in spite of her family. It felt wrong to be anything less completely honest but... “We can't.”

“Why not?”

Kara had had this conversation in her head so many times. It was surreal to be having it out loud. “Telling her about us would put her in even _more_ danger,” she said, knowing it was true, but also that it wasn't the whole truth, “and telling her now...” she shook her head. “It would only hurt her.”

Supergirl frowned. “She's smart. She's going to figure it out eventually. Don't you think she'd rather hear it from us?”

She had a point. Kara _knew_ she did, but if there was any chance that telling Lena the truth would cause her pain, or worse, put her at risk... no. She couldn't do it. Lena's well being and safety _had_ to come first. “It's not that I don't _want_ to tell her,” she tried to explain.

Supergirl gave her an uncomfortably knowing look. “Actually,” she said. “I think that's exactly what it is... which is a little weird, because _I_ want to tell her so we're obviously conflicted about this. Lena is more than capable of getting into trouble all on her own and even if she hated us for it, she deserves the truth. So,” she added. “What are we _really_ afraid of?”

Kara bristled. “I'm not afraid.”

“I don't think you trust her.”

“Of course I trust her!”

“You didn't even trust _Alex!_ ”

“I-” Kara had no answer for that. She _hadn't_ trusted Alex. She'd gone running to Winn instead. Oh, she'd had her reasons. Sound, logical reasons she'd thought at the time, but looking back... They'd been rationalizations, excuses. Did she really have similar fears about Lena?

“See,” Supergirl answered the question for her. “You're afraid. You've always been afraid.”

“Aren't _you!?_ ” Kara burst out. She couldn't believe, wouldn't believe, that she was the only one with doubts.

“No.” Supergirl tilted her head, expression thoughtful. She studied Kara, her eyes somehow bluer than they had ever been in the mirror, but also shrewder than Kara had given her credit for. “No,” she said again. “I think you got that part.”

*****

It was a terrible idea. A really bad, no good, idiotic idea. Kara had _almost_ convinced herself she wasn't trying to prove anything, but no amount of denial could make this any less stupid. And yet here she was, about to knock on Francis Miller's front door.

Giving Supergirl the slip had been almost too easy. A little worrying out loud about Lena, wondering if this guy really was a stalker, or just another alien looking to take his shot at a superhero. An offhand comment about how busy Alex and J'onn were and how poorly Lcorp security seemed to handle extranormal threats, and she'd practically begged Kara to cover for her so she could make sure Lena was safe. Getting here had been harder. Kara had almost forgotten what it was like to be at the mercy of public transit.

The house itself was small and unassuming, a tidy white-sided bungalow with a picket fence. There was even a cheerful little garden gnome leaning on his shovel in a well-tended bed of petunias. It didn't exactly look like anyone's idea of an evil lair. Kara was pretty sure evil lairs were incompatible with garden gnomes, or at least they should be. She _liked_ garden gnomes. Still, this was the address Lena had given them. She squared her shoulders and marched up to the front door, ringing the bell before she could second guess herself.

The elderly woman who answered the door matched the house perfectly. Small, round and rosy-cheeked, with a smile so wide and sincere that Kara couldn't help but smile right back at her.

“Hello, dear,” she said, wiping her hands on her apron. “Can I help you?”

“Hi, my name is Kara Danvers. I'm a reporter for the Tribune.”

“Ethel Morris, though I don't know why that would be any interest to a reporter, I haven't done anything interesting in twenty years at least.” There was a twinkle in her eye as she said it, which made Kara very much doubt that last part.

“I'm actually looking for your grandson Francis Miller? I'm writing a story on unpaid internships in multi-million dollar companies, and I understand he worked for Lcorp?”

“You want to interview my Franky?” Ethel beamed even brighter, if that was possible, and stepped back, ushering Kara inside. “He'll be so pleased. He goes on and on about that Lena Luthor, thinks she's just about the best thing that ever happened to this city.”

“Is he home?” Kara asked, following her into a brightly lit kitchen.

“Oh no, dear, he's at school, but he should be back soon. Would you like to stay and wait for him? I just took a batch of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies out of the oven, and I'll put the kettle on for tea,” she said, already taking a plate down from the cupboard and loading it with cookies from the baking sheet on the counter.

They smelled amazing. “I don't want to impose...”

“It's no trouble. Sit, sit...” Kara sat. “I'd be glad of the company. Franky is so busy these days, he hardly has time for his old grandmother. You know his mother died when he was just knee-high,” she said, putting the plate of cookies down in front of Kara. “And his father hasn't been in the picture since, but he's such a good boy. Never caused me any trouble, and his friends are so sweet. They're all good eaters, and they love their board games.”

“Boardgames?”

“Dragons and castles, or dungeons and monsters...something like that. I can't keep it all straight, but Franky's very serious about it. I made him a cape for his birthday last year.” She filled the kettle and put it on the stove to boil before sitting down across from Kara. “Four yards of black silk. It cost a fortune, but he adores it.”

Black silk... a hooded cape against the deep blue of the ocean. Kara struggled to swallow her mouthful of cookie. “Could I use the bathroom?” she asked after choking it down.

“Of course. Down the hall to your left. The first door, not the second one, that goes down to the basement. Franky took over down there, made it into a real nice rec room. I'd show you, but I can't get down those stairs with this old hip anymore.” Ethel pointed and Kara thanked her.

She waited until Ethel had busied herself with the kettle before opening and closing the bathroom door and then tiptoeing further down the hall to the basement door. It was closed, but not locked. Kara eased it open, slipping through and sneaking down the stairs as quietly as possible. The basement was dim, but the windows set up high against the ceiling let in enough light to see by. She looked around, taking in the large flat screen television and expensive looking gaming console setup across from a shabby couch covered in overlapping quilts, a long bookshelf piled with board games and a square wooden table. It was clean and surprisingly homey. Kara was pretty sure Ethel was the source of the quilts.

A quick search didn't turn up anything incriminating, and she was just about to go back upstairs when she heard a thumping sound. She followed it around the corner to a small utility room. The thumping was coming from the closet and Kara, forgetting for a moment that she no longer had superpowers, and may or may not be able to handle whatever was behind that door, yanked it open.

She wasn't sure exactly what she'd been expecting. It could have been anything from a cat to Francis's latest victim. She definitely wasn't expecting Francis himself, but that's who it was — gagged and hogtied, and looking up at Kara like she was the answer to all his prayers.

  


 


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara makes things even more complicated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I said updates were going to be more regular, but then the Supercorp Zine happened... so yeah. But here we are!

“Francis?”

“Mfgdhmf!” The scrawny young man in the closet garbled something that may or may not have been an affirmative, struggling against his bonds.

“Sorry, sorry!” Kara knelt and untied the the gag. She left the wrists and ankle ties alone for now. She might be dumber than usual at the moment, but she wasn't a complete idiot. “There,” she said, pulling the spit-soaked scrap of fabric free and tossing it aside. “Are you Francis Miller?”

“Franky,” he rasped, raising his bound wrists to his mouth to wipe the drool off his chin. “Francis is the one who did this to me!”

“The one who...” Oh. _Oh!_ Kara sat back on her heels, mind whirling. 

“At first he seemed so smart,” Franky babbled, words running into each other and blurring together until they were only so much noise while Kara reordered everything she had thought she'd known up until this point. “He was so much smarter than me. He had all these plans, and I thought we were going to change the world, but then he started hurting people... I tried to stop him,” Franky insisted, eyes wild. “but he wouldn't listen! He has all these powers... and he knows what I'm thinking before I do. _Please_ ,” he begged, the shrill edge to his voice bringing Kara back to the present, “you have to get me out of here before he kills me!” 

“Shh...” Kara hushed him, casting a worried glance towards the stairs. “Calm down. I'm not going to let anyone kill you. Now, we don't have much time, do you know anything about a staff? Old looking, glowing red stone...?”

Franky nodded frantically. “It's mine. I found it at a thrift store. I thought it would make a great prop, but then _he_ happened. I know it sounds crazy, but I think it divided us somehow, only I've never been able to get any of those spells to work-”

“Spells?” This was getting weirder and weirder.

Franky's face fell. “You don't believe me...”

“Oh I believe you,” Kara assured him. “Trust me. As far as crazy goes, magic is nowhere near the top of my list right now. Come on,” she untied the rest of his bonds. “I need to get you out of here so we can figure out what's going on.” She helped him to his feet, pulling his arm across her shoulders when he stumbled over half-numb feet. It was a good thing he wasn't a bigger guy, or she'd never have gotten him out of there. The stairs were going to be interesting, never mind sneaking him past his grandmother.

Speaking of which... They had just reached the first step when Kara heard Ethel's voice raised in welcome from somewhere upstairs.

“Oh, Franky! You're home early. There's a lovely reporter here to talk to you about Lcorp...”

Kara and Franky froze.

“He's back...” Franky began to tremble against Kara's side, almost falling as he tried to scramble away from the stairs.

Kara caught him, wincing when he stepped on her bruised foot. “Shh... listen, if we tie you back up I can pretend I got lost and maybe-”

“No!” He was shaking more violently now, digging his heels into the carpet. “I'm not going back into the closet. We can hide, we can-.”

Kara slapped her hand over his mouth. She was beginning to understand why he'd been gagged. Footsteps echoed in the hallway overhead. The basement door creaked. Slowly, slowly, she urged the terrified Franky away from the stairs. If she could just get him out of sight behind the couch, maybe she could...

Too late.

The first blast knocked her off her feet, dragging Franky down with her. Crackling red energy engulfed them and Kara threw herself over him, bracing herself against the burning snap of electricity. She couldn't move or even scream. It might have lasted seconds or hours until it passed and she collapsed, shivering and gulping for air. Franky groaned underneath her. She rolled off of him, pushing herself up to face their attacker.

He was short like Franky, and slim. He had the same close crop of curly brown hair and hazel eyes, but that's where the similarities ended. Kara had only known Franky for a few minutes, but she knew instantly that Francis was nothing like him. His wide mouth was twisted in an arrogant sneer, his eyes were hard and he glared down at them without a hint of mercy or compassion. There was no sign of the black cape from their first meeting, but he had the familiar staff pointed squarely at Kara's heart.

“Well, well, well... and here I thought you would be difficult to find,” he gloated. “You _are_ her, aren't you? Supergirl's weak spot. Her Achilles heel. The very embodiment of all her flaws and imperfections. I did her a favour you know. You were holding her back. Preventing her from becoming the hero this world really needs. I was going to do the same for Lena Luthor, she has so much promise, but we both know how that ended. No matter. There will be other opportunities and you're going to help me.”

“I will _never_ help you hurt Lena!” Kara spat back at him. She might be everything he said she was, she might be made up of all the worst parts of herself, she might be weak and frightened, but she would die before she let him lay one finger on her best friend. 

He smiled. “I wasn't asking.”

The second blast threw her backwards over Franky and into the table. There was a sharp crack and a flood of pain, and she cried out, dropping to her knees and cradling her broken arm against her chest. It  _hurt,_ and her stomach heaved, making her gag and cough. There was a ringing in her ears, and the edges of her vision began to blur, but past that she could hear Franky's gasping sobs, and if she turned her head she could see that he had curled himself into a ball, shoulders shaking and his face pressed into the floor, just waiting for the final blow. 

Kara gritted her teeth and stretched out her good arm to grab the edge of the table, pulling herself to her feet. She took one trembling step, and then another, and even though every human instinct was telling her to run, she met Francis' eyes squarely. putting herself between him and Franky. She might not be a Super, but that didn't mean she could just  _give up_ . 

“The answer is still no. You can do whatever you want to me, but you'll never get to Lena, because she has Supergirl, and Supergirl will _end_ you.” 

He laughed, a brittle, ugly sound. “Supergirl will  _join_ me, and once I purify Lena Luthor, the three of us will correct humanity's crash course into self destruction and save the world!” 

“You're delusional.”

“On the contrary, I've never seen things more clearly. Now, we can do this the easy way or the hard way, it's up to you.”

Staring down the magical equivalent of the barrel of her mortality, Kara had to wonder if he was pulling this script from  _Evil Villainy for Dummies,_ and that thought led to another. This wasn't some evil genius or a criminal mastermind she was facing here. This was a kid. Half a kid at that. Maybe she could still reason with him.

“You want to save the world, Francis?” she asked quietly. “This isn't the way to do it. I know what happened to you. I know you've been scared and now you're not. You've felt weak, and now you feel powerful, but you can't _bully_ your way into being a hero.”

He scowled, raising the staff once more. “Watch me.”

The air around them hummed as red light crawled out from under his fingers, twisting lazily up the staff and reaching towards Kara in narrowly forked tongues of fire. Heart beating so hard it hurt, she held her ground, hoping there was still something good left in him.

But when the explosion came, it wasn't from Francis.

With a sound like a thunderclap meeting a wrecking ball, Supergirl smashed through the ceiling, landing in front of Kara with enough force to crack the floor and shake the foundation. Without missing a beat, she lashed out with a fist, knocking Francis flying and rounding on Kara before he'd even hit the wall. “You  _idiot!_ What were you thinking?! Do you have any idea what Alex would  _do_ to me if anything happened to you? I-”

“Look out!” Kara shouted back, suiting action to words and ducking as Francis leaped back into the fray, a spinning circle of red lightning thrust out ahead of him in a crackling shield. Supergirl turned just in time to avoid a sweep of his staff, jumping into the air and retaliating with a blast of heat vision as debris continued to fall down around them.

“Be careful!” Kara yelled, dragging a very confused Franky under the table as best she could with one good arm. “He's human!”

“What?!” Supergirl dodged another sizzling attack, her return blows foiled by the shield. Freeze breath rocked Francis back a few feet, but did nothing about the arcing lines of pure power.

“They're doubles, like us. If you kill him, you'll kill Franky too!”

Supergirl picked up the couch and threw it at Francis, pinning him briefly against the wall. “Who the heck is Franky?”

Franky raised a hand from behind Kara, giving Supergirl a weak wave. “Hi...”

Francis threw the couch back. Supergirl blocked it with a raised arm, using her cape to shield them from flying splinters. “If they're not aliens,” she said, shrugging off the broken pieces, “where are these powers coming from!”

“I haven't figured that part out yet!”

“Um... I might be able to help with that...” Franky said, drawing Kara's attention away from the fight. He still looked shaky, but there was a new resolve in his wide hazel eyes. “I used to play a lot of D&D, it's this game-”

“I know what Dungeons and Dragons is,” Kara said, gesturing for him to hurry it up. “What does that have to do with Francis?”

“Well I had this character... he's a Wizard and I made him everything I wanted to be. Confidant, powerful and I guess kind of a dick, but it was just a game, right? I called him Francis the Fantastic, and he had this thing for lightning...” 

“Wait,” Kara stopped him there, unable to believe what she was hearing. “You're telling me your other half is a lightning throwing wizard that you _made up for a_ _board game!_? No.” she raised a hand. “Don't answer that, it doesn't matter right now. Just tell me how to beat him.”

“Well, Wizards are usually vulnerable to physical attacks,” Franky explained, “but Francis has a really, really good shield spell, so we'd have to distract him...”

“Okay,” she could work with that. “Take off your shirt,” she told him.

“What?” he looked scandalized.

“Supergirl needs my help, and I need a sling, so take off your shirt!”

He did as he was told, blushing furiously as he helped her rip it in half and rig up the make-shift sling to support her broken arm. She winced as he tied the knot behind her neck. It hurt, but it would do. “Stay here,” she said, taking the remaining half of the shirt and leaving him under the dubious shelter of the table. It was a short crawl to the bookshelf, and she used the other scrap of fabric to make a rough bag for a pile of books, dragging them a few more feet to the biggest chunk of couch, hoping it's bulk would shield her from the worst of Francis' firepower.

“Hey Francis!” She yelled, grabbing the first book and hurling it at his head. “Catch!”

He dodged, but not fast enough. It hit him on the shoulder, drawing little more than a frown, but distracting him for a crucial moment. His shield faltered and Supergirl took advantage of the lapse to follow up Kara's attack with a blast of freeze breath.

He just barely got the shield up in time, and what followed was a team effort that forced him back step by step until his back was against the wall and it was all he could do to keep Supergirl at bay. Kara figured out the extent of his shield almost immediately. It was more of a disk than a bubble. He had to keep it moving, which meant there were gaps. Her aim wasn't the best, but she got through often enough to make it count. When she ran out of books, Franky was there at her side with an armful of them.

“I thought I told you to stay under the table!” Kara hissed.

“I want to help.”

“Fine.” She took a small novel off the top. “But stay down.”

With a final push, Supergirl broke through the shield, snatching the staff out of Francis' hands.

“Supergirl, _no!”_ Kara scrambled over the broken corner of the couch, but she was too far away and too slow, and it happened to fast. 

Eyes blazing with frustrated rage, Supergirl leapt into the air, bringing the staff down over her knee and snapping it in half. The resulting  _boom_ knocked them all back. 

Kara and Franky both went tumbling to the ground. Kara landed on her broken arm, snapping her jaw shut against a strangled scream and nearly biting her tongue. The air was full of sparks and scraps of stuffing and the acrid sting of smoke and singed fabric was making her eyes water, but she saw Francis push his way free of a fallen sheet of drywall and escape up the stairs.

“Supergirl,” she croaked.

“Kara!” Supergirl was at her side in a blink. “Are you okay?”

She shook her head, pointing to the stairs. “He's getting away...”

“Supergirl's expression hardened. “I'll catch him.”

“No,” Kara caught the corner of her cape, fighting against pain and vertigo for just a few more minutes of consciousness. “He's after Lena. Get _Lena_.” She held on just long enough to hear Supergirl's affirmative before letting go, the heavy material of the cape slipping from her fingers as she fainted.

*****

She came to in the middle of an argument.

“How could you have let her out of your sight!?” Alex, as predicted, was not happy.

“Have you _met_ your sister? I didn't _let_ her do anything. She tricked me!”

Alex snorted. “She tricked you; how is that even possible?”

Kara would have come to Supergirl's defense, but moving didn't seem to be a thing she could do at the moment. She couldn't even open her eyes. _Where..._ she tried to say, swallowing against a rising panic that threatened to strangle her, paralyzed and unable to make a sound. _Where...?_

“I'm sorry, would someone mind telling me what the hell is going on here?”

Lena.

Kara exhaled shakily. There.

Lena was safe.

Supergirl had her.

For one clear moment Kara felt nothing but gratitude for her other half, then the wave of relief swept her under and she slipped back into unconsciousness, drifting in and out on a generous tide of sedatives and painkillers. Hushed conversations came and went, but she only caught a few words here and there before being carried away again.

“-don't know what I'd do without her...”

“-important to me too-”

“-do you-?”

“-someone else-”

When she finally woke up properly, it was quiet. She blinked, waiting for the world to come into focus, but lights and colours continued to swim in front of her eyes. She had a vague memory of being brought back to the DEO, so this was either the infirmary or somewhere else big, white and full of medical-type objects. She felt... it wasn't _floating,_ not exactly, more like air bubbles rising slowly through thick, golden batter from the bottom of a mixing bowl; lighter than flour, cream or sugar, but still too heavy to fly.

“Welcome back.”

Kara turned her head towards the voice, squinting at a halo of dark hair around a pale face.

Lena.

“Would you like some water?”

She nodded, sucking weakly at the thin plastic straw Lena held up to her lips. It soothed her throat but did nothing for the weird cake-mix haze. After a few swallows she collapsed back against her pillow, exhausted, but there was something she needed to say before she passed out again...

“...you're not Maggie,” she mumbled, her brain tripping over her mouth and falling flat on it's face. “She says you are, but you're not.”

Lena set the cup down somewhere with a soft _click._ “Who says?”

“Supergirl.”

“Why would she say that?”

“Because Alex has one.”

“One what?”

“Maggie.”

“You mean Alex has a girlfriend?”

That sounded right. “She's happy,” Kara agreed wistfully.

There was a long pause, then a quiet “... I don't make you happy?”

What? No, no, that was all wrong. Kara shook her head. Words were terrible. Words were making Lena sad. “Don't need a Maggie,” she said firmly, tangling her fingers in the soft silk of Lena's sleeve. “I have a Lena.”

“Kara...”

“But Supergirl does,” she added before Lena could say anything else. That much was clear in her head. Supergirl was in love with Lena, Lena was probably in love with Supergirl and Kara was supposed to _be_ Supergirl, but the staff that had gotten them into this mess was broken so it didn't matter how Kara felt or didn't feel anymore. Someone should be happy. Lena should be happy, and her stupid, shiny hero of an other half should be happy. “Supergirl needs a Maggie.”

Lena tilted her head, not quite frowning, but there was still a sort of frowny feeling to the way she was looking at her. “You're not making any sense Kara,” she lied. Kara could tell she was lying, because under the frowny feeling there was an _I don't like what I'm hearing, so I'm going to pretend I'm not hearing it,_ feeling. Lena had a lot of feelings; all piled up on top of each other.

“ _You_ could be her Maggie,” Kara persisted. “She needs you.” That wasn't quite right. “She loves you.” Better.

“Kara,” Lena said again, pulling her sleeve free of Kara's fingers. “You- you should get some sleep. We'll talk in the morning.”

“But you'll think about it?”

Lena sighed. “If I say yes, will you go to sleep?”

Kara nodded.

“Then I'll think about it.”

The next morning, when Kara awoke with a clear head and a nagging ache in her arm, she remembered just enough of that conversation to regret everything she'd ever said or done in her entire life. Burying her face in her pillow with a groan of pure mortification, she prayed for a swift and merciful death. Anything to avoid having to look either Lena or Supergirl in the eye ever again.

“Rough night?” This time it was Alex with the straw and the paper cup.

“The _worst,”_ Kara admitted, rolling over and sitting up. Her left arm was in a cast, and she was wearing one of those flimsy paper gowns that crackled when she moved, but everything else seemed more or less the way she'd left it.

“Good.” Alex handed the cup over without an ounce of sympathy, crossing her arms and glaring while Kara gulped it down. “What the hell were you thinking?”

“Uh...” Kara wracked her brain for an answer that would satisfy her sister and came up with nothing. “I was trying to help?”

“Well don't,” Alex said flatly. “You're benched until we figure this out. Supergirl can be Kara Danvers for now, _you_ are going to do your best imitation of someone who isn't _stupid,_ and stay right here where I can keep an eye on you.”

“Alex-”

“No,” Alex cut her off. “You don't get to argue with me today. You could have _died!”_ She sniffed, wiping the back of her hand over her eyes.

“I'm sorry,” Kara said meekly, looking down at her empty paper cup. She tried to imagine how she would have felt if it had been _Alex_ in this bed and cursed herself for an idiot. She'd _known_ how dumb it was, but she'd just been so... ugh. It didn't matter. She messed up. She'd messed up and now everything was ruined. Tears stung her eyes. “I'm so sorry, Alex.”

“Dummy,” Alex sighed, anger spent. She sat down on the edge of the bed and pulled Kara into a sideways hug. “Don't do that to me again, okay? I still need my little sister.”

“I won't” Kara mumbled into her shoulder. She sat back once she'd gotten herself under control. “What are we going to do about the staff?”

“Lena and Winn are working on it,” Alex said. “Apparently it's some kind of alien tech. They're pretty sure they can get it working again.”

“Oh...” That was... amazing, and awful, and probably a few other words Kara hadn't thought of yet. Mostly amazing, because she really wanted to get back to being all of herself, but also awful because she just told Lena Supergirl was in love with her and if she and Supergirl were going to be the same person again...

Things were about to get complicated.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're enjoying this story, you can find more of my writing in the Supercorp Zine Volume 2. Pre-orders are open until the end of April at supercorpzine.storenvy.com

**Author's Note:**

> You can also find me at blackteaandbones.tumblr.com for updates and general fannish silliness. :)


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